Paddle game



p i 9, J. D! BELLA 2,196,253

PADDLE GAME Filed New 22, 1939 INVENTOR. Jmefh 85E cBella.

ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 9. 1940.

I PADDLE GAME J oseph Di Bella, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assignor to Gla'ssoloid Manufacturing 00.,

Inc., New

York, N. Y., a corporation, of New .York Application May 22, 1939, Serial No. 274,888

' 3 Claims. (01. 273-971 My invention relates to a novelgame paddle which has on its face'a plurality of pockets adapted to receive a ball which'is'attached to the paddleby means of a cord.

My paddle is to be used for amusement pur poses and comprises the apparatus necessary for playing a'novel game The paddle is approx-- imately thesize of a table tennis paddle and has attached to itself at some point a cord which at its .terminus carries a ball adapted to bounce upon the surface of the paddle and/or to bereceived by certain pockets which are formed in the paddle," said pockets carrying designated arbitrary values.

My invention further relates to the construc- 'tion oi such a paddle in which I employ a base material as the main body of the paddle and on. .the backth ereof I place a mesh material adapted to form pockets in the manner to be described. Over that mesh material I place a backing material having openingstherein corresponding to the openings in the paddle itself. This backing 'ma-" terial carries an adhesiveby-means of which the backing itself and the mesh material are secured to the back of the paddle.

Alternatively to employingpockets beneath the Accordingly, it is the object of my invention to provide a novel play paddle.

M 'It is another object of my invention to'provide a novel game apparatus comprising a paddle having a multiplicityof pockets contained in the" face thereof, said pockets bearing markings 'denoting certain arbitrary values to be received when a'ball attached to that paddle'is successfully lodged in such pocket.

It is a further object of myinvention to provide a novel construction for a paddle having mesh pockets;

These and other objects of my invention will be apparent from the description which follows,

taken in connection with the drawing, in which Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the paddle of my invention in which I show the position of the ball carried by the string, both in the dropped position and also in a position inwhich the ball is lodged me the paddle.

ne of the pockets carried by any suitable stiff material.

having the openings 1' therein.

1 Figure 2 isa cross-section taken along the line 2-4 of Figure 1. I

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the .construction and the method of construction of.

thepaddleof my invention.

I Figure 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of my invention. r

Referring now more specifically to Figure 1, I show a paddle I which is of the general size of a table tennis paddle or a ball-mounting, paddle such as are known in the art. 1 The paddlehas a suitable handle 2 which widens at its end 3. Attached to the paddle I by the fastening means 4 is a cord 5 which carries a ball 6 which may be of rubber or'any suitableresilient material. The cord 5 may be ordinary cord or string material or may possiblybeof rubber.

The ball is'shown at6' in its normally depended position. On the face of the paddle I are openings 1 therein iii-which areme'sh'pockets 8. On the face of the paddle andadjacent each pocket is' an arbitrary numerical value such as 5,

10' or IE, indicated by thenumeral l0.

back of the paddle and is' secured to thepaddle 'ao by the backing l3 which may be of cardboardor The paddle can be of any suitable material, such as wood, plastic or metal. r y

In Figure 3 I show the method. of construction of my paddle. There I show a table member IE on whichis placed the plywood paddle body II Through this opening vl projects a shaping member or jig l6 over which isdisposed the meshmaterial which 40 is fabric' l2 so that the jig forms" a pocket of the desired size in the proper position.- I Thereafter the stiif backing member I3 is coated with secures both the backing material and the mesh fabric firmly to the back of the plywood material which is the main body of the paddle.

By means of'this assembly I can rapidly and efliciently form-a paddle with mesh .pocketsl which are of unusual strength. That is, because the mesh extends entirely over the back of the paddle, there can be no partial separation of or pulling out of the mesh at any individual pocket.

The backing that secures the pocket material to the paddle may be in the form of individual rings which secure the pocket material to the paddle immediately adjacent the holes.

Preformed cups having flanges which may be inserted from the top of thepaddle with the flanges on the upper surface of the paddle may be used, or such flanged cups may be attached to the back of the paddle, in which case the se-' curing means attach the cups through; the

flanges.

Referring now to Figure 2| and 22 and the depending ball 23 which is attached to the paddle at 24 by the cord 25. shown above, the pockets 2! and 22 are formed integral with a' mesh material 26 which extends across the back of the paddle. The mesh material is secured to the back of the paddle by the backing material 21. The feature of this modification is the facingv material 30 whichlies on top of the paddle and which may be of a soft material such as a felt or flocculent cardboard. This soft facing material is for the purpose of dampening the bouncing action of the ball on the face of the paddle in order to allow the user to more easily guide the ball into a desired pocket. This facing material may be a rough flocculent material as has been pointed out or it may be of corrugated material in order to render more haphazard the action of the ball.

As a further modification ,I may providea ridge or guard rail .running around the edge of the paddle to prevent the ball from rolling ofi the face of the paddle, but it is to be understood that this is a modification which may or may not be employed.

The pocket material, in lieu of mesh fabric, may be of plastic material, such as sheetings or paper, etc. Crossed wires may also be used as pockets.

The use of the paddle of my invention is as follows:

The ball 6 carried on the end of the cord 5 is thrown into the air in any desired manner, as by rapid movement of the paddle itself, and upon the ball descending the paddle is rapidly moved so that the ball is received in one of the respective pockets in the face of the paddle. The pockets are relatively deep so that the ball can be securely received therein. However, since the pockets are of a diameter only slightly larger than the diameter ,of the ball itself, it is rather diificult to place the ball in one of the pockets without exercise of skill. The resilience of the ball and its consequent bouncing on the face of the paddle render the game more difficult and amusing.

4 in which I 'showa modified form of my invention, I show in side elevation the paddle 20 which carries the pockets The cord which holds the ball may be attached to the paddle at any desired point and the point 4 illustrated in the drawings is merely one of a number of desirable locations therefor. Because of the difierent markings on the respective pockets of the paddle, there are advantages gained by accurate placement of the ball in any particular pocket. That is, the quickness of the eye and facility of handling which are requisite to this game are enhanced bythe resultant increased values for placement of the ball in a particular pocket.

One of the holes, for example the top hole, may provide a premium in the form of a doubled score for all points previously made, and this premium hole is made smaller in diameter to make it 'more diflicult to place the ball therein.

When the modified form of my invention is employed in which the paddle is faced with a soft material which does not cause the ball to bounce as much as the plywood shown in the form of Figural of the drawing, the game is played with more case, but at the same time skill and quickness of handling are necessary to obtain good competitive scores.

The specific forms shown and described are given by way of example and it is to be understood that the paddle may be modified by varying the number of pockets and their position as well as varying the position of the cord which carries the ball.

Further, although the manner of construction of the paddle is of particular value, I do not intend to limit my invention to that particular construction, but only with respect to the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A game paddle comprising a body and a handle, said body having a plurality of openings therein, a layer of mesh material extending over the back of said paddle, said mesh material being formed into pockets beneath said openings, and

a ball tethered to said paddle.

2. A game paddle comprising a body and a therein, a layer of mesh material extending over the back of said paddle, said mesh material being formed into pockets beneath said openings, and a backing material securing said mesh to said paddle, and a ball tethered to said paddle.

3. The method of manufacturing a game paddle having pockets therein which comprises forming an opening in said paddle, projecting a jig through said opening in said paddle, placing a layer of flexible material over the back of said paddle and over said projecting jig whereby the projecting jig forms a pocket in the flexible material, and applying a backing material over said flexible material to secure said flexible material to the back of said paddle.

JOSEPH DI BELLA. 

